Williams-Goss picked up 4 quick points for Partizan but was answered by 6 from Sikma and a 12-4 lead. Butterfield followed with 5 straight points for ALBA, which opened a 23-12 lead. Miller tried to keep Partizan close but the lead was 30-21 after 10 minutes. The hosts started the second quarter strong with a 16-5 spurt to make it 46-26. Two three-pointers from Williams-Goss and a long ball from Novica Velickovic had the gap down to 50-37. But 5 points from Peyton Siva sent ALBA into the locker room up 57-39 at halftime. Partizan chipped away at the lead to start the second half at 59-45. But Peno and Giffey both nailed three-pointers as ALBA increased the advantage to 67-46. Salic tallied 7 straight points trying to keep Partizan close but the deficit was 76-58 after three quarters. ALBA would not let Partizan get back into the game with Sikma and Marius Grigonis both hitting from downtown and Butterfield doing it all over the court as the advantage was up 95-73 with 4 minutes left.

ALBA heads on the road next week to take on Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar. Partizan welcome Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius for Round 2 action.

Head Coaches

GARCIA RENESES, AITO

ALBA Berlin

“Before the game I was worried because Peyton Siva had problems with his ankle yesterday and could not play so many minutes today. And we missed Bogdan Radosavljevic, who was in hospital with his wife, because she is about to give birth to their child. We hope everything is well with them. However, we played very good from the start. Our aggressiveness and running was good and everything was going well on both ends of the floor. It’s great to start the EuroCup season which such a win that both the players and the fans enjoyed very much. But we have to keep our feet on the ground. We still have many problems and our schedule remains very difficult.”

NIKOLIC, MIROSLAV

Partizan NIS Belgrade

“We are a very young team. For example Marko Pecarski was born in the year 2000. It is our choice to develop young players for the future. Our EuroCup group is very strong and as a young team we don’t have the highest ambitions in this competition. Our defense was on a low level today and also our passing on offense was not fluid. The Partizan we saw tonight is not what I expect it to be in some months. Congratulations to ALBA for a fully deserved win. They are a strong, professional team and played very aggressive on defense tonight.”

Players

SIKMA, LUKE

ALBA Berlin

“The amount of points you score will change from game to game depending on how you’re shooting it. Today we made a lot of shots. I was really impressed with how we started out on defense and set the tone defensively. And that was really the most important thing.”

PENO, STEFAN

ALBA Berlin

“It was a little bit emotional for me, but I tried to not think about that. About the game, we played a great game for 40 minutes. We didn’t slow down at all. Maybe we need to just forget this and think about the next one.”